Sunday, September 02, 2018

Three-Digit Phone Number for Suicide Prevention Signed into Law

A few weeks ago, local Utah politicians (Rep. Chris Stewart and Sen. Orrin Hatch) helped get a suicide prevention bill onto President Trump's desk that he signed into law. It tasks the government with creating a three-digit number that works as a shortcut to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255) for suicide and mental health crises, much like 911 for medical emergencies. It also authorizes an investigation into the effectiveness of both the lifeline and the Veteran Crisis Line.

If you would like to see changes to either of these services, now is a very good time to contact your congress critters and give them your feedback.

Without comment, President Donald Trump signed into law on Tuesday legislation sponsored by Rep. Chris Stewart and Sen. Orrin Hatch, both Republicans, to require the Federal Communications Commission to study the feasibility of such a hotline.

It is also ordered to recommend which three-digit number would be best for the hotline, examine the effectiveness of the current National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and Veterans Crisis Line, and recommend ways to improve the current system.

Stewart and Hatch hailed the new law and said it is long overdue.

“We now have the opportunity to make the National Suicide Prevention Hotline more accessible and easier to remember,” Stewart said. “By creating a hotline dialing code that is short and easy to remember, we are taking an important step towards potentially averting tragedy. This new law truly has the ability to save lives."

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